This is the perfect last minute gift repurposing project - taking all of, oh I don't know, ten minutes maybe? The idea is to hack up an old or thrifted sheepskin jacket to make the elegant lady's answer to a pair of mittens: a hand warmer muff. Especially now that so many of us rely on touchscreen phones, it can be pretty annoying to keep having to take your gloves off just to check a text (and we've yet to find touchscreen friendly mitts we'd be proud to wear...). But with a muff hanging off your shoulder it makes keeping warm and keeping in touch that little bit chic-easier! You could even stitch a little phone-sized pocket on the inside...

You will need:

• an old sheepskin jacket
• fabric scissors
• sewing machine with a special needle for sewing leather
• embellishments (optional)
• some lengths of chain (we used about 6m)

Step 1:

Cut out a rectangle from the jacket measuring 30 x 45 cm.

Step 2:

Embellish the outside with a stencilled design, studs, rhinestones, lace overlay, fur trim etc or simply leave plain.

Step 3:

With right sides together, stitch the 30cm lengths together to form the muff.

Step 4:

Loop the chain through the muff repeatedly to make a sort of multi-chain shoulder strap. Connect the two ends either with the chain loops themselves, or a jewellery clasp if you have one.